


A violinist explains human race

by tojund_for_us



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Fandom
Genre: Gen, I don´t even know, I should have fulfilled my duties instead, I should have slept instead, I´m literally shit, Kraglin being an overjoyed dumbass who loves to learn about other cultures, Ravagers don´t know chocolate pudding and think it´s disgusting, Yondu and Kraglin being... whatever the hell this is, Yondu being a sulking annoying bag of jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 04:55:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11154666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tojund_for_us/pseuds/tojund_for_us
Summary: Yondu had decided to keep Peter. Unfortunately, None of the Ravagers actually knows how to raise a human. That´s why Kraglin decides to use his time of the shore leave as good as he can and visits a friend of his: a Young female HUMAN violinist from TERRA.Yondu gets jealous and Kraglin has to fix it while dealing with a nerve-wrecking eight-year-old Peter.





	A violinist explains human race

„Uhm, Cap, I´ll be goin´ now!”, Kraglin yelled through the door before it closed. Therefore, he couldn´t hear Yondu´s grumbled: “And where the hell ya think ya goin´?”

After a successful mission the Ravagers had went to one of their favorite places for shore leave and party. Most of the crew was already gone off partying, Kraglin, Yondu, the ship´s cook and the annoying small Terran being the last ones on board.

Happily humming a melody, Kraglin wandered the halls of his beloved ship and escaped through one of the small exits that were unknown to ninety percent of the crew. He had other plans than drinking tonight.

He walked for a while, still humming, but stopped. He had a bad feeling in his stomach as if he was followed by somebody, but upon turning, he couldn´t make out any stalking figure in the shadows despite his very good eyesight at nighttime. Deciding that it was false alarm, he continued his way through the city to a strange, Terran looking, small building in one of those side streets only entered by the ones who knew it. The walk wasn´t very short, nevertheless Kraglin enjoyed being on his own and walking through a city at night. He really hoped she was there though. His destination was the only place he could look for her.

At the front door, he realized he was underdressed. People of all kinds were wearing Xandarian and Terran formal wear while he ran about in his red leather clothing like a fox in the hen coop. Seriously Xandarian and Terran formal wear looked nothing alike and still people thought it was the same! Ignoring the staring curious or terrified eyes along with the cautious whisper that chased after him through the crowd, he went to the counter and demanded a ticket for the next show at the bar. He still had time to pass by so he watched the crowd of formally dressed people. At one end a group of twenty green-skinned, expensively dressed creatures with three sets of eyes gathered while on the other side five hunched figures tried to blend with the shadows. Kraglin narrowed his eyes. They didn´t seem to be the type to come to such an event as it was a Terran concert.

One could think Kraglin was a guy who wasn´t interested in much else than listening to the crews complaining and fulfilling his captain´s orders, but the truth was, he loved to get to know other cultures. And one of them was the Terran “culture”. It had been a few years before when he had first met- rather seen and heard the Terran girl. She had been very young back then, but he had known nothing about the growing progress of humans. She had been very good back then, but he had known nothing about the beauty of mankind´s music.

And that was what he had first known about her; her music. A flageolet piercing through the steady mutter of the overcrowded, with smoke covered, dimly lit room. Two pieces of wood had been in her hands, one, in her left laying on her shoulder and held with her chin, sartorially curvy, the second one in her right hand thin and straight, reminding Kraglin of a stick and seemingly a very uninteresting one at that until she had brushed it over the curvy wooden piece in her left. The sound had been… foreign, interesting and totally unexpected. The single note had been high, clear and quiet, but piercing nevertheless. If Kraglin wouldn´t have known better, he would have said that the high heavens had come down to greet him. And then she had started to play. Eyes closed swinging to the rhythm of her melody, she had played songs for a whole hour, none of the present had known nor cared to know. Kraglin had leaned over the bar and listened for the whole time, drinking one drink after another. When she had finished, Kraglin had grabbed the barkeeper and had “kindly” asked him where the girl was going. With the threat “If that´s a lie…” poking the alien with his knife, he had left and searched for the girl.

In that night, Kraglin had made his first real contact with human race. He had learned that the strange wooden thing that gave those high sounds was called violin and bow, that Terra was not one nation but divided in many, that Terra had so many different climates and that the girl was only twelve years old. Which once had meant adult in some nations on Terra.

A bell ringing let Kraglin snap out of his memory and he sauntered into the small building. Smiling, he sat on the first free stool on the bar to order a drink. He didn’t notice the wrapped-up figure scurry in as well, a red eye gleaming from below the pulled over hood. As usual for Terran concerts, the artist wasn´t on stage yet. People still filtered in, most slightly confused as to why the show hadn´t already started. Kraglin drank his alcohol, looked through the crowd and continued his game of searching for folks that seemed worth robbing. All the while the strange red-eyed figure watched him and their surroundings from the darkest corner available.

After half an hour, the room was finally dimmed and Kraglin practically bounced in excitement as a young, tall grown human woman with red flames of curly, messy hair and a short green dress escaped onto the stage with the precious violin in her hand. She smiled and waved at a large group in the front row, Kraglin could identify as his girl´s growing fan club.

“Hi! I´m so happy that so many people gathered here this evening! Welcome to a Terran concert, the title of this evening´s event is called birthday.” She smiled, people clapped since it was quite common among the different races to show approval and respect this way and the fan club screamed in the first row. Kraglin smiled and clapped along. What a beautiful girl she grew into. “Well, for everyone who doesn´t know a lot about Terran culture; As the name already says, it is a day to honor a person´s existence. This takes place on the date they were born. I, as an example was born on this exact day 23 years ago. Therefore, I prepared a few customary birthday songs from all over the Terran world and afterwards I´ll Play a few of my favourite pieces as well. The first song will be the most famous bithday song named happy birthday to you.”

Kraglin knew he smiled like an idiot, but he was so eager to learn more and more about Terrans that he sat on the edge of his stool by the end of her short speech. The melody she produced now was simple, easy to follow and sure as hell made to stay in your memory for the rest of your life. Kraglin kept on sipping his drinks and quietly humming to the melodies, which became more and more advanced through the evening. Between each song or composition, the girl told a short story or some fun fact about Terra´s culture. When Kraglin realized that he was closer to drunk than planned, he stopped dead in his tracks as she began playing a melody, he hadn´t heard in years. It was played more accurate and clearer this time, more heart than concentration speaking out of it and Kraglin spilled his drink in recognition of the composition: It was the girl´s beloved “Chi Mai”, composed by a so-called genius in the Terran year 1971.  All songs afterwards were known to Kraglin and he kept on humming the melodies of “Carmen Fantasy”, “Mendelsohn violin concerto in e minor, op. 64” (which had the orchestra’s part played from a record since there was no orchestra available) and a few other compositions by Mozart and whatever their weird names were.

A roar erupted when the show finished, people- mostly the fan club- jumped out of their seats, clapping as loud and fast as they could, but Kraglin stopped following their beat when he suddenly felt an icy gaze fixate on the back of his skull like somebody was trying very hard not to give into the temptation to snap his neck. Kraglin pretended he hadn´t noticed anything and waved at no one in particular in the crowd as if he had seen someone he knew all the while unobtrusively looking out for the source of the threat sitting in his neck. A glimpse of red caught his eyes as a strange hooded figure emerged from the darkest corner of the crammed room. At the door, it turned around for a split of a second, making eye contact. Kraglin felt like those red strangely familiar eyes gleaming at him in silent accusation of a crime he couldn´t remember committing. The only person with eyes like those was his captain, but what was Yondu doing here hiding in the shadows? Had he been the one who had caused in Kraglin the feeling of being followed and killed by a gaze? Kraglin jumped up and nimbly slipped through the crowd thanks to his slender stature, the show and the young woman on stage already forgotten. He pushed through the undulating mass of swaying bodies at the bar, wormed his way between chatting, laughing people making their way to the exit as well and squeezed through the door next to some bulky misshapen beast who had a problem fitting through the wide front doors by himself. When Kraglin finally stumbled out into the cool fresh night air, he had lost of the hooded figure with his captain’s eyes.

Why do I even know what the cap´s eyes exactly look like?!, he asked himself, shaking his head, sighing. He had literally nothing to do now but wait until the last of the spectators had went home or wherever they were headed. Kraglin would have to “ask” the bartender and probably chase after her to catch up, because she had never been the one to stay at one place for too long. And she was a loner, she didn´t have to wait for someone to meet, she didn’t share her small vessel. Maybe he really should hurry his sorry ass up and follow her as soon as he could, but there was still a huge number of visitors in the building, most of them even wanting to see the girl backstage. And Kraglin couldn´t afford it to become known that a Ravager had befriended her. Not only his own reputation alongside with hers would be destroyed, but bounty hunters would think, she could be a vulnerable spot in the Ravager´s system and take her hostage and that´s something Kraglin wouldn´t want to happen to her. She was young, beautiful and member of an exotic, rare race that usually never left their own solar system. She was a wild flower you could not cultivate, that needed it´s freedom to grow and bloom.

Kraglin was about to turn back to the building´s entrance when he felt something thin stab into his lower back. He froze.

“Now is this how you greet a beautiful young lady?”, a familiar cheeky voice asked behind him and he finally turned with a smug, crooked grin.

“Oh, I beg forgiveness, Ma’am I wasn’t aware that your highness wants to be greeted like a lady.”, Kraglin answered. The beautiful girl punched him in the arm slightly, but let herself be drawn into a short hug accompanied by a kiss on either cheek, which she both returned. “I´m surprised you spotted me in there, Melanie.”, he said detaching himself from her. The girl’s- Melanie as it was- smile grew wider. A growl from a nearby shadow went unheard by both of their ears. The wrapped-up figure narrowed its eyes at them in displeasure about this public display of affection, not recognizing it as one of many Terran customs.

“Aw, c’mon, you´re always sitting at the bar. It wasn´t that much of a challenge. But say, why’d you run away like bitten by a tarantula?”, she said.

“What is a tarantula?”, Kraglin frowned as Melanie laughed and shook her head to indicate that it wasn´t important. “Well, I ran away cuz I got a feelin’ me cap stalked me.”, he answered, his thick accent adding up to the total bad boy image of him leaning closer to her with his crooked smirk.

She laughed in response. “Is he in a bad mood that he tries to find something he could black mail you with? C´mon, let´s go for a walk! I haven´t seen the night sky in like forever.” The two of them strolled through a close-by park. Unnoticed by the two of them, the wrapped-up figure with the red eyes slipped from a shadow near the spot, the Xandarian and the Terran had previously occupied.

 

“Say, ‘Lin. What´s up, you´re so quiet.”, Melanie asked after a moment of silent walking. Kraglin snorted.

“Three moons at the size of a mansion are up.”, he answered sarcastically, but humorlessly. After another few minutes of silent walking, he suddenly stopped by a greenish lake and stared at its glittering surface. “I was just wondering.”, he said, not looking at her.

“What were you wondering about?”, she asked stepping up beside him, staring out at the lake as well.

“I was wondering about… children.”, came the answer quietly. She gave him a sideway glance.

“How do you mean that?”

Kraglin shrugged and stayed silent for a moment. “Can we talk about that in your ship?”

Nodding, she led him through the labyrinth of the city to an old beat-up vessel sitting in the parking lot of a campsite. The red eyed figure left them, heading the other way eyes lightening up the night in red anger.

Punching a code into the lock, Melanie let themselves in with a “Here we are!”.

“So, what was that about children? You don´t have the plan to settle down, do you? Or have you finally gotten yourself a mate? Tell me, who is that poor bastard who has the strength to put up with you with such an ease that they promise to do so for the rest of their life?”, Melanie bombarded him immediately as soon as his (in _his_ opinion) fine ass touched the cushion of the couch.

He glared daggers at her, but she was and had always been immune to that kind of actions for which reason Kraglin stopped and tried to stop the seemingly endless stream of questions coming out of her mouth by answering them.

“Ok, first of all, I still don´t have a mate, likewise nobody I´d care to have as such, second, I don´t want to settle down, cuz I could never for the sake of the universe, leave my beautiful ship behind and third, the child isn’t even my fault. We had had the mission to steal it from Terra and bring it to its father, but apparently our captain thought it was a better idea to keep it like you decide to keep the baby animal you said you´d give away. Three weeks ago, he had announced to the crew, he would keep the brat. He hadn´t even discussed it with me first. What he thinks is a first mate for? Sorting out his ruined socks, or what?!”, Kraglin began, his voice growing louder with frustration. Melanie was quick to counteract and put a steaming cup of Indian tea into his hands which he accepted with a suffering sigh. Melanie herself settled into an armchair opposite to the couch.

“Wait, so you´re telling me, you have a Terran on board?”, she asked, stirring her own tea. Kraglin nodded over the rim of his cup as he took a sip from the familiar and simultaneously exotic drink. “Wow”, she mouthed. “And how old is it, then? You said it was a child? Is it a boy or a girl?”, she continued to babble as if she just remembered her duty to be an annoying little piece of shit.

Kraglin grunted in annoyance. “Stop! I´ve heard enough of this prattling already. It´s a boy. Says, he´s eight years old. Is a scared little shit, cries all the time cuz his mother died and thinks, one of us men is his father. I had to entertain him once for a few hours an asked him a few questions. Since then he chews off my ear whenever he finds it fitting to rabbit on like he´s a fucking waterfall or shit!”, Kraglin growled and Melanie mumbled a short apology into her cup along with something that sounded like “I know how they are.”. After the last sip of her tea, she placed the empty cup onto the small tea table between them.

“So, let me get this straight. Your captain was the idiot of all the ones existing in the universe, who thought it would be a good idea to keep an eight-year-old in a bunch of poor bastards with random mental issues who don´t even know how to organize a normal household like having a laundry day or making themselves something properly to eat without a cook?!”, she asked, disbelieve clear in her features. Kraglin simply nodded. He felt tired all of sudden, the Indian tea emitting a warm feeling from the pit of his stomach. He settled back a bit, letting himself sink into the cushions further.

“Jap. And that´s why I´m here. None of us has even the slightest idea about humans, cuz we ain’t one.”, he answered.

“Ok, where does he come from, like, what culture does he come from?”, she asked and Kraglin shrugged.

“Dunno”

She snorted. “You don´t even know.  What language does he speak?”

To this, Kraglin pulled out a pad and played a record of the small boy talking about how he wanted to go home. Melanie nodded. “Jap, this is definitely American English. He probably has American nationality.”

“Can you tell me something about those Ameri- whatever?”

 Melanie nodded and sighed. “Tell your captain he is a dumbass, I will keep an eye on that kid and take it upon myself to raise it if you prove yourself incapable of doing so. Also, greetings from me, even if he doesn´t know me. Let me guess, you don´t know what to feed him, right? First of all, Xandarian food is okay. Fruits are good and welcome even if sweets taste better. He needs carbohydrates, proteins to build up muscles, unsated fatty acids and above all vitamins are very important. Living in a spaceship means there won´t be a sun around all day long. Therefore, you need vitamin d, furthermore vitamin a, b, c, b-12 and rhodopsin. B-12 is good for the immune system. By the way what about vaccination? There are quite a few diseases, humans should be vaccinated against like meningitis or pneumonia. Last one isn´t necessary, but should be done if there is a heredopathia found regarding this matter.  Moreover, a carefully thought-out education is important to ensure…”, she began to list what she came up with and seemed to be important enough for Kraglin to actually listen to. After a while he began wondering what she had needed the information of the boy nationality for since it was a more or less foreign concept to Kraglin that a planet could be split into nations.

Around one in the morning of her Terran alarm clock, Melanie finally finished her spontaneous lecture about how to raise a human and what was important for human bodies. The main advises contained healthy meals, careful and appropriate education and “DON´T GIVE HIM TO MANY SWEETS, THAT’S TOTALLY NOT GOOD!”. Her lecture had only been interrupted when the lights had flickered and went out.

“What´s that? Why did the lights go out?”, Kraglin had asked and Melanie had just shrugged into the darkness.A movement Kraglin had not seen but heard.

“This ship is running on solar panels. But they are quite old like the batteries. They don´t make it through the night anymore. Problem is, I don´t have the money to buy new ones.”, had been the apologetic reply in the darkness.

Now it was well past midnight and Kraglin felt his eyelids flicker in fatigue and he yawn as loudly as he could. A chuckle from the other side of the tea table indicated that she had no problem with his behavior- as usual.

“You can stay for the rest of the night if you want.”, she offered and Kraglin gladly accepted, letting himself fall onto the length of the old couch.

“Thanks”, he muttered and was asleep as soon as his head hit a pillow.

 

“Hey, wake up, sleepy. Crew´s gonna leave without you.”

Kraglin shot up at the last part trying to remember where he was until he realized the smug look on Melanie´s face who stood next to the couch some wooden stirring device in her hand that clearly came from Terra. A wonderful smell of warm bread, scrambled eggs and something sweet, most likely jam, filtered in through a wooden door with broken glass, Kraglin recognized as the kitchen door.

“Ya made breakfast?”, Kraglin croaked and Melanie nodded, laughing at his unsuccessful attempt of standing up.

 “Jap, c´mon it´s almost midday! You slept through the whole morning! I don´t even know you that way. “, she laughed and hopped back into the kitchen, heavy metal blaring through the whole ship.

Kraglin stretched, yawned and grumbled while he followed her, one hand on his lower back, the other one kneading down on the sore muscles in his neck.

“I feel like I was thrown through an Asteroid field at super speed. What kind of shit is this sofa?! And it´s the first night I´ve slept through since that damn brat is on board.”, he kept on bitching around when he arrived in the kitchen. Instead of an answer, a plate with scrambled eggs was placed in front of him.

“thanks”, he muttered and sat down to eat what he could. After a while he noticed that Melanie did only eat a few fruits. “Why don´t you eat some too? Not hungry? I remember you once ate more of it than I could.”

Melanie shook her head. “ah, no. I just became allergic to it. You know, I have a disease where your allergies constantly change. It´s a bit unnerving, because sometimes I can only eat a certain meat and potatoes and that´s it. Those are mostly the times when I return to Terra or to my new planet.”, she explained. Kraglin cocked his head in question.

“You own a planet?”, he questioned and she nodded.

“Jap. I married my beautiful wife one and a half year ago. Together we bought a small planet- well, more a moon. Nova Corps allowed us to let it be registered as ours for money since my Ma’yia is the second last of her race. Luckily reproduction can function with my race as well as the other one of her race. The other one is... let´s call it male. Their name is Tyu’ichi. They also live on our new home moon.”, she told Kraglin who grinned at her.

“That´s nice that you have finally someone who looks after you. Thought that’d never happen, thought that´d be my job for the rest of my damned life.”

Melanie laughed. “Oh, off with you! I can totally live by myself. I don´t die!”

 

Around noon, Kraglin strolled back to the _Eclector_ humming as happily as last evening, but this time with a whole essay on his pad from a Terran violinist he has always met on some random planet through the years. An essay about how to treat a human asshole at the age of eight. Furthermore, Kraglin had heard another lecture in the morning, but this time not as long as the other and about the fact that on earth existed around 6500 different languages. Kraglin had been very interested in how the people still could talk to each other and Melanie had just laughed at him and explained that many countries started to teach their children English as a second language to the mother tongue. When Kraglin had asked her if she could speak other languages than English, she had answered: “Yeah. My mother tongue is Italian, but I learned Russian, Spanish, Syrian or the Arabic language and Latin. By the way, Latin is dead. Only like hundred people on earth can still speak it fluently.” Kraglin had asked her if she could say something in one of those, even the dead one and she had done so, but Kraglin´s translator couldn´t understand a single word of them. "Maybe it´s because Terran astronauts speak mostly English. That´s why nobody bothered to translate another language.",had beenthe girl´s explenation.

All in all, Kraglin had had a good time with his friend and was currently walking through the halls of his beloved _Eclector_ to the bridge to tell the captain, he was back aboard. Unfortunately, there was no time to do so as Yondu swung around in his captain´s chair as soon as Kraglin dared to set the tip of his big toe through the door.

“So, what have we here. Our beloved first mate lets himself finally down to appear to the bridge five and a half hours too late like he owns the place. Did you have a fun night with the Terran girl? Hope you at least used contraceptive, cuz I’m gunna kick your sorry ass if you bring another newborn in here. Or even a whole family. Forget that immediately. I won´t take the girl in, rather kick you out.”, Yondu greeted him, his eyes piercing through Kraglin who stood frozen in the doorway, daring him to contradict. Some of the present Ravagers laughed the somebody-got-laid-and-has-to-tell-us-the-details-later-laugh that got Kraglin´s blood boiling, but he kept his cool.

“Thank you and good morning to you too, sir. Actually, I did have fun the night, but unlike the believe of some around here, I had the pleasure to attend a very enlightening lecture about how Terran life works, their different kinds of cultures and their need of certain chemical substances they take in with their food. Also, I attended to a second lecture about Terran languages and I can say, we can be glad that our Terran speaks English, because it´s the only Terran language our translators can interpret.”, Kraglin answered as calmly as he could, knowing full well that he sounded like a snooty rich ass who got served everything on a silver tablet. A few of the crew members standing around were clearly overwhelmed by his highfalutin talking. Even when he had spoken like any other of them, just leaving away the insults. Yondu didn´t let himself be disconcerted that easily, however.

“That doesn´t make up for the time you weren´t there even though it was your shift, you rat! Just cuz you the first mate doesn´t mean you can come around whenever fits for your oh so fine ass! Get down from your high horse. Just cuz you listened to some brattling doesn´t mean your better than anyone here! You´re as dumb as everyone else. No meals for you today, understood?!”, he growled in response. “We´ll talk later.”, came the last threat, then Yondu turned back around fixing his gaze on a new repairing report popping up on his personal screen.

Kraglin let out a breath he hadn´t realized he was holding, tried to relax his already- better say still- sore muscles and stood up as tall as he could. Having done this, he walked over and took his seat, ignoring a few surprised and impressed glances while starting with his work. He knew it for himself, he _was_ tall and _could_ look intimidating, but he was too used to be hunching over some pad or control panel that he had kept this pose unconsciously. The last night´s lecture, however, had involved barefoot walking for the boy to avoid poor posture and opened Kraglin´s eyes that his own posture wasn´t the best either. Therefore, he wanted to change that and begin sitting straight again. At this thought Kraglin almost barked out a laugh. Him and straight was like using a toaster to make ice cream. Finally laughing at his own comparison, he went back to work smiling until he saw the reflection of his captain´s grim face on his pad. Out of habit, Kraglin shrunk into himself and frantically tried to find a task that would lead him away from the captain and the bridge. He didn´t believe in god or fate, but when an alarm popped up on his screen, he was very close to thanking whoever deserved it. Most likely Peter who had caused the alarm to come into effect. With a short shaky smile to his captain, Kraglin fled from the room, practically running to Peter´s small room.

As it turned out, Peter had been asleep for no reason in the middle of the day- as if Kraglin himself had been any better a few hours ago- and had had a nightmare. He sat in his bed, crying out his eyes while Kraglin stood by the door, unsure of what to do. If he thought the lecture from Melanie was helpful before, he now felt like she had given him a piece of a black hole that swallowed everything and didn´t give it back. Maybe he could talk to him? But what could he say? It wasn´t like they were best friends and talked like they had been married for the last thirty years. A broken voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

“Krag-Kraglin?”, asked Peter, wiping his eyes.

“Yes”

“Do you think she was in pain?”

“Who?”, Kraglin asked back bewildered.

“Mom.”, came the reply alongside an accusing look that he dared to forget about the boy´s mother.

“eehm… she´ll be fine. She um…”, Kraglin struggled for words until he remembered something about religion, Melanie had told him about. “She in a better place now. She´s fine.”

“But was she in pain when she-”, Peter began crying again and Kraglin cursed inwardly. What the hell was wrong with this kid? His mother had died, it wasn´t like he was forced to recall how somebody had raped him or something.

“Pain is a way to go. No pain no gain. If she had died without feeling pain of any sort, she wouldn´t deserve the peace that comes with it.”, Kraglin finally answered. The boy stopped crying immediately.

“You think?”, he asked, disbelief and curiosity in his face and voice.

“Yes.”, Kraglin nodded enthusiastically, glad that the kid stopped crying. “Say, why are you still in bed? Slept for so long?”, he changed subject quickly to entertain the boy and lead his thoughts away from his deceased mother. Peter laughed.

“Yondu went out with me yesterday!”, he explained excitedly. “It was very late already, like around midnight or something, but we went into a bar with the others- well, they had been there already, and it was awesome! Some lady did some cool stuff on a pole like hanging upside down without holding herself with her hands and everybody was happy and drunk and Momma has never allowed me to stay up so late and the cool lady said I was cute and gave a few units to me and talked with Yondu all the time and they touched all the time and then I got tired and Itzel brought me back to the ship. He said all kinds of weird stuff like the ship is my new home now and that he´s glad that children are around again, because he missed them and so on. I couldn´t really understand, he was drunk.”, Peter narrated in seemingly one breath, not stopping for only one single moment. Kraglin had trouble following the story, that´s how fast Peter was speaking. In the end, he just smiled his lopsided grin at the boy and ruffled his hair.

“Ok, so you were up late and that´s why you slept through half of the day. Alright. But now you gotta stand up and help Itzel with the food, alright? He needs another hand or two today, because Kraglin´s gotta go and fetch a few things around here.”, He said turning to leave the room.

“Hey, that´s not nice to speak from yourself in third person!”, Peter yelled after him and Kraglin turned again to look at the boy.

“Is that so?”, he asked. Peter nodded.

“only bad people do that. Like Nero.”

“Who the f- who is that?”

“It was a Roman emperor and he burned Rome because he thought the city was ugly and because he wanted to build his house where parts of the city were.”, Peter explained, almost pouting, obviously dissatisfied that Kraglin did not know about a random Terran called “Nero”. The first mate only rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“I´m sure there were others that used that and were good people.” _and by the way Ravagers are not good,_ Kraglin finished in thoughts.

“No”, Peter decided and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Kraglin shot him a stern look.

“Whatever”, he sighed. “Go to the kitchen, wash your hand and ask Itzel what you can help him with.”

Surprisingly Peter did what he was told and it was perfectly alright with Kraglin who wandered off to go and shop some Xandarian food alongside with some food supplement. Mostly, vitamins because those were rare on the ship and Terrans were the only race that needed so much of them. Every other race on the ship could go without vitamins for almost a whole year and not get scurvy or some other disease. Humans were really prone.

In the end, Kraglin had been longer at the market than he had planned to, but the food supplement was hard to find, harder to find the money to pay for them and hardest to not make anybody suspicious. Terrans were rare and exotic even though to the uninformed they looked like Xandarians with a different eye color, but the ones who knew, those people were dangerous. It was only for his own good to keep quiet about the boy. When he returned to the ship it was dinnertime already. Nevertheless, Kraglin went to check on some of the repairs before he went to the mess hall where Peter and Yondu sat on a table together with Itzel and a few others. Silently, he slipped into the seat next to Yondu since it was his usual place. Quietly, he mumbled a greeting to everyone and refused Itzel´s offer of a meal with the reason that the captain denied him his meals for the day as punishment. Itzel just nodded in response and kept on digging into his own food when suddenly a bleeping from the kitchen let Peter jump up in excitement. With the exclamation “Yay, dessert´s ready!”, he ran into the kitchen, Itzel following shortly behind. Yondu growled slightly.

“We don´t eat dessert. We don´t even have some.”

Kraglin just shrugged in response, because he was as uninformed as the captain was. A sweet smell erupted from the kitchen and a huge pot, Peter obviously insisted on carrying, even though he couldn´t even lift it from the ground properly. Nevertheless, he grinned like an idiot- which he was in Kraglin´s opinion- and tried to heave the pot onto the table, right in front of Yondu. Said one shot one look at the content and choked.

“What the fucking hell is that, brat?”, he hissed. Peter ignored the quite obvious threat of “If you don´t remove this immediately…” in Yondu´s voice and kept on smiling.

“This is pudding. Chocolate pudding.”, he explained and resumed his attempt on hoisting the pot onto the table. Now, Kraglin saw the contents too and he had to choke himself. He wondered what kind of drugs Itzel had done to allow the kid to cook this. Peter resumed happily and shoveled a good portion of the brown mass onto his plate. Without another thought, Peter dug into it and munched it like it was something divine.

Yondu- who had been eating up until now- shoved his plate aside, eyes staring anywhere else than the boy who, unfortunately, sat right opposite to him. “That´s disgusting, it looks like he´s eating a pile of shit.”, Yondu mumbled to Kraglin who nodded and was glad that he hadn´t eaten anything this evening. His stomach may have growled before, but now, it was quiet and felt more nauseous than anything else.

To both of their horror, Itzel smiled at the boy fondly, handed over his plate and asked for a portion of this “pudding” as well. Peter seemed happy to share and gave him quite a lot of it with the words: “Mom would never cook so much of it at once. And never let me eat it when it was still warm, but it tastes best when warm.” If Kraglin and Yondu hadn´t choked before, they definitely did now as Itzel tried a spoonful and shot the boy an approving grin, only to literally inhale the brown mass. Kraglin speculated that this was, what hell could look like if got an individual one. Eventually a thought crossed Kraglin´s mind and he turned to shoot Peter calculating look.

“Desserts are sweets, aren´t they? How often a day are you allowed to eat dessert?”, he asked, trying to make a “Don´t fuck with me”-face. Peter noticed this, obviously, but apparently decided not to act upon it.

“Yes, those are sweets, every baby knows that! I get dessert whenever I want.”, he said with a daring grin.

Kraglin narrowed his eyes. “Don´t you lie to me, mister. Even if that´s so, you won´t be getting sweets here whenever you want, understood?! I´ll make sure of that, count on that!”, he hissed, then turned to Itzel. “You heard, Itzel? He will get dessert only once a day for lunch. And don´t you disregard my word, understood?!” With that said, he said goodbye and left the table taking the disgusting pot with him. He knew it himself that he was walking on thin ice, giving orders in presence of the captain, he knew he would get in trouble. He even half expected a whistle and an arrow piercing through him any minute. Surprisingly, nothing alike happened.

Yondu himself narrowed his eyes at him, but confirmed Kraglin´s order and made it look like the two of them had discussed this already, but forgotten about it until Kraglin had remembered now.

Luckily, Kraglin could avoid his captain for the rest of his evening shift, running around among the repair workers, discussing and arguing with them. Sometimes he lend a hand to one or two of them by passing something over while listing the different states of repair and creating a to-do-list. When there were only five minutes left, a call through the com demanded him on the bridge. A call had come in that was directed to him. Brooding about who this could be, he made his way back up to the bridge. The moment he came through the door, everything became clear and Kraglin froze. Melanie´s tear-stained face smiled sadly from the main screen back at him.

“Hey”, she whispered.

“What´s up? Did something happen?”, Kraglin asked, totally ignoring the rest of the present crew including the captain´s distrustful look. Melanie laughed humorlessly.

“Yeah, Lin. Sun´s up. Guess which one.”

“Eehm, dunno?” Kraglin was confused. What was up? The camera´s angle changed and they could see a bright light and strangely formed stones and wooden crosses everywhere.

“My grandfather killed himself three days ago. Today is funeral, I brought him back to Terra.”, Melanie explained. Kraglin nodded.

“And why exactly are you calling me for, then?”

“Since I´m on earth I could bring some food for your little bugger. Fresh fruits from Terra will be welcome, I´m sure. So, what do you want me to get?”, she explained and it dawned to Kraglin that he was talking to the most precious girl in the whole galaxy right now. He shot Yondu a glance, very aware that Melanie noticed it, then he nodded at her again.

“Fruits would be welcome. By the way, he made something disgusting called pudding today. A whole pot and nobody wants to touch that. He also said his mother never wanted him to eat so much. How long will this pudding be good?”, he answered and Melanie´s eyes widened.

“Wait, for real? Please tell me, he didn´t eat like the half of it or even warm!”, she hissed, her gaze turning to somewhere outside the Ravager´s view.

“Is that bad?”, Kraglin asked and she nodded.

“Jap.”, she whispered in response. “If he´ll get a stomach ache, tell him, it´s his problem. If he gets diarrhea it´s his problem too. His mother had done right not allowing him to eat too much warm pudding. He´ll have to learn it the hard way if he doesn´t want to listen.”

Kraglin smiled almost invisibly. At least she knew how to be strict with children. “Thanks. And say, why did your grandfather kill himself?”, he wanted to know. Melanie´s sad smile reappeared on the screen.

“I was closer to him than the rest of my family. Everybody thought, he was crazy, because my parents are dumb and believe that the humans are the tip of god´s creation. For them, no other life exists. Grandpa was out in space all the time. He took me out to my first concerts when I was around six. Remember when we met first? I was twelve and there had been that old man with a mustache and huge glasses? That was him. He began suffering from dementia a year ago or something like that. That´s why he killed himself.”, she explained.

“What is dementia?”, Kraglin responded. He had literally not the slightest idea.

“It´s a disease. You forget everything over time. Literally everything. Mostly it starts with small thing like frequently forgetting what you wanted to do or where you are for a moment. Then you forget how to tell the time. You forget how to cook properly, maybe that you were cooking and it begins burning or something, you forget how to read, how to write. You forget the names of your grandchildren, forget that you even had them, forget the names of your own children, call your grandchildren by the names of your children and so on. And that´s how it goes. Your brain forgets how to digest properly, forgets to walk and eventually you forget how to breath. If you´re lucky, your brain forgets how a heart beats and it just stops.”, Melanie explained “My grandfather didn´t want that. He said he wanted to die with the memories of where he belonged and threw himself out of the airlock. Here on Terra, I told everyone that his death was caused by a heart attack during a journey in Russia and-”, suddenly the screen went blank and Melanie´s voice was heard talking in another language, nobody could understand. Kraglin guessed, she was talking in her native tongue.

After a while, her red curls came back into view. “Sorry”, she whispered. “I told my parents, I´m talking to my Asian friend Lin Cheng. They literally believe me that Xandarian sounds like an Asian language. How dumb can a person be, I mean, what the hell? They Sound not the slightest alike, but I have to end now or they will take away my Transmitter. I disguised it as a Gameboy, but there´sonly so much I can do. See ya´ll!", then the Transmission broke off. Kraglin looked around. Yondu sat in his chair looking back at him with thoughtful eyes, the others didn´t dare to interrupt their nonverbal conversation and hurried back to their work. Suddenly the captain stood in one swift motion indicating that Kraglin should follow.

“Come”

Kraglin didn´t dare to do anything else than silently obey, because his captain was boiling underneath and he could see it, even if there was an attempt to hide it. They retreated from prying eyes into Yondu´s personal quarters. Kraglin was not often here and mostly in trouble whenever he was.

“That girl. Who is she?”, Yondu demanded, plunging down into the soft cushions of his favorite chair. Kraglin swallowed hard. Time to stand his man.

“She´s a Terran human. I frequently meet her while on shore leave. We´re friends.”

Yondu nodded, pulling out his arrow and played with it. “uh-huh. You have a friend outside the Ravager group. All right.”

“I´m not gonna leave the Ravagers for her, sir, I´d never-”, Kraglin began, but the words got stuck in his throat when Yondu held up his hand.

“And how could I believe you? One reason to not throw you out of the airlock after her.”, came Yondu´s cold reply, but the first mate thought he had seen a glimpse of betrayal in those red eyes. Those eyes. They were the same as the ones of the hunched wrapped-up figure that had stalked him not one full day ago. Grabbing every ounce of courage he found, Kraglin spoke up.

“Why did you follow me, captain, sir?”, He asked quietly, but the other one heard him very well. A growl and a smack with the flat blue hand to the desk let him flinch and cower away in fear, eyeing the Yaka arrow warily.

“You didn´t answer my question. I won´t take insubordination. Admit it, you have fallen for that bitch!”, he shouted. Kraglin felt his anger bubble up inside him.

“Oh, c´mon!”, he shouted back without realizing it. “I don´t even like women! And she doesn´t like men. She´s married to another woman. I´m as straight as a left turn!”, then softer: “She´s a friend who understands my humor. We meet like once in two years, but we´re both okay with it, because we´re this kind of friends that open their mouths just to insult each other.”

Now it was Yondu´s turn to shoot a wary look. “Your friends and family are the Ravagers, nobody else, understood? Break contact to her immediately. And don´t you dare disobeying me another time.”, he said calmly which was even more scarier than when he shouted. Because it meant, you truly fucked up. “How did she get the contact to our ship anyway? You gave her the contact to call, didn´t you?”

Kraglin shook his head frantically. “No, sir. If I had given her a contact to talk to me, I would have given her my personal one, don´t you think so too?”, he replied, still slightly hunched over in a defensive pose.

Yondu waved with the Yaka arrow and sighed. “Whatever. Get her out of the system, delete every data she has about us and make sure to never meet her again or I will kill her and you right afterwards, understood?!”

Kraglin nodded and scurried out of the room. Outside he let out a breath and stood tall again. That had been close. Yondu had ignored his question about why he had followed him the day before, but Kraglin was sure, very sure that it had been his captain lingering in the shadows around him. How much he must have heard of their conversation? Had there anything been ambiguous? Recalling the conversation in the park, he realized that his own choice of words was indeed suggestive. “I was wondering about… children.” It actually sounded like he wanted to found a family with her. Not what he had planned on implying, but it seemed the captain was quick to come to such conclusions. And “Can we talk about that in your ship?” didn´t make it any better. Shit. But why was Yondu so upset about it? They lost Ravagers all the time. Ok, maybe not to a family´s life and settling down, more like being shot and dying in the dust of some bitch ass planet.

“Uh, Kraglin?”, a now familiar voice interrupted the Xandarian´s thoughts and said one sighed.

“Yes, Peter?”

“I… eehm, Well, my stomach hurts.”, the boy mumbled rubbing his stomach and his sleep drunken eyes. Silence evolved around them as Kraglin didn´t respond.

“And what about it?”, he grumbled after a while “I can´t do something against it. That´s the warm pudding. You ate too much of it. Your mother had done right to not allow you to eat it while still warm. And especially not that much. You should listen to what she said about food. Now go to bed. It´s way past your time, you gotta get up early tomorrow. We wanna leave this planet tomorrow after lunch and we still have to do a lot.” With a slight punch to the arm, he sent the boy back to bed. Kraglin decided that the boy´s stomach ache wasn´t his problem after all and went straight to his own bed.

 

In bed, he didn´t lay awake for too long, in fact, he was asleep as soon his head touched the pillow.

* * *

 

_A figure followed him around. All the time, no reason given, just continued to watch over him. He didn´t know why, but he felt somewhat save in its presence. After a while of chasing each other, they stopped at a lake. A small moon was shining down on them illuminating only their features._

_“Why_ _did you follow me, captain, sir?”, Kraglin asked quietly. There was silence for a moment. Then, a hand appeared from under the dry muddy coat and softly touched the first mate´s cheek._

_“I want you to be save. Stay with me, don´t go. And don´t die before I do.”, came a hushed rough voice. The figure became blurred and was consumed by the shadows surrounding them until there was a short flash of red_

_“I need you with me. I love you.”_

_Then, utter blackness._

* * *

 

In the next morning, Kraglin couldn´t remember the dream and went about his usual duties. If the captain had any sort of issue regarding his first mate, he made it very clear by avoiding poor Kraglin as best as the captain simply could. Talking was difficult, even if they had to. Yondu would listen to Kraglin´s lists, advices or ideas of changes, but did not open his mouth one damned single time. It was nerve-racking for the Xandarian since he had fulfilled his duties even better than usual, had canceled contact with Melanie (who gladly understood and had never expected anything else to happen) and sped up the repairing by working there himself.

Hopefully, it would stop soon enough, but no such luck as Yondu obstinately continued to ignore him. After about half a week, the whole crew knew that something was going on in their captain, but except Peter nobody dared to ask.

They sat at the tables in the mess hall when Peter suddenly pushed his plate away looking over to the captain with a pout. Said one ignored it in favor of getting more food shoveled into his mouth.

“I liked you better before.”, the boy stated, realizing that Yondu would continue ignoring him.

“How come? You don´t know me.”

“But you´ve been nicer to the people around before. Until recently, like last shore leave.”

Yondu lowered his spoon and dangerously glared at Peter. How bad could it be that even an eight-year-old could pick up on it?

“One more word and you´ll be todays dinner, got it? Stop asking questions about things you don´t understand.” This led to silence for a few moments until Peter spoke up again.

“Are you sad because of the nice lady on the pole? Men are always sad because of women. But they are also very nice though I never met a nice girl. Girls are dumb.”

Yondu grunted into his cup. “Ah, as if. You are the only one of us around who can even remember her face properly. I´ll tell you about that when you´re older and allowed alcohol.”

Kraglin had realized through the last few days that Peter might have been scared at the beginning, but he didn´t really react to the threat of being eaten. No wonder, he was to be a so-called teenager soon. In a few years only.

This evening, Peter showed up late to dinner and was scolded for this by the captain, but didn´t seem to be bothered. The meal itself passed as silently as it could be, given, they were on a Ravager´s ship.

“Kraglin?”, Peter asked, following the first mate through the ship.

“What is it?”

“Something´s wrong with the blue one, isn´t it?”

“Don´t call him blue one if you want to celebrate your ninth birthday.”

That rendered the Terran silent for a moment. “But there´s something wrong. Last shore leave, he got drunk at the bar. Too drunk, I guess. And you are not in a better mood either.”

Why did the kid notice those things? “I´m good. The first mate is always good unless he´s dying. And when he´s dying, he knows, he´ll get better than the rest of you poor bastards. And why do you even know what drunk is? You´re merely a toddler.”

“I´m not a baby!”, Peter protested in an instant. “I´m almost nine already! Did the two of you have a fight?”

Kraglin rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Listen, idiot. My job may be to sometimes question the cap´s decisions and to build a connection between him and the crew by listening to their bitching and whining for him, but I don´t fight him, understood? You can question your captain´s orders, but never question your captain for what he is. Especially not Yondu Udonta. Remember that for the rest of your damned life.”, he hissed in reply, bending over until his face was inches away from Peter´s. The boy defiantly didn´t shy away.

He crossed his arms over his chest and pushed out his lower lip. Hundred percent defiant.

“Wrong.”

“You can´t tell me what´s wrong or right, kid.”

“My mum fought with my uncle sometimes and then both were sad in the end. After two days, they always apologized and were best friends again. Yondu ignores me.”

“Your problem.”

“You´re so mean sometimes, you know?”

“And you can´t keep any emotion to yourself, do YOU know?” The kid began to get on Kraglin´s nerves. “Don´t you have anything to do, or what?!”, he asked as the two of them went on through the corridor.

Still pouting, Peter headed off into another direction, leaving Kraglin alone who thanked every existent and nonexistent god for the departure. The boy´s words, however, left him thinking. Yondu seemed to be really bothered by something and it was his place and job to find out. Maybe even fix it if he could. He would pay the captain a visit in his personal quarters again.

It took nine days for Kraglin to translate his thoughts into action. Taking a last deep calming breath, he shortly knocked on the captain´s door and waited. And waited. And waited. A bypassing Ravager shot him glance.

“If you wanna see the captain, he´s over in med bay. The Terran did some shit with the wrong cables.”, she said a smug tone swinging slightly in her voice. Kraglin growled at her, but she was around the corner before she had seen it. Fuck her. Kraglin experimentally knocked on the closed door a last time, then went off to the med bay. Peter was there indeed, laying on a bed, unconscious. Yondu stood next to him while their best medic examined the kid, all the while blabbering something in his areas terminology. Kraglin didn´t understand even half of it. He actually didn´t care to understand.

“Captain, sir!”, he greeted, giving the medic a short nod. “I- ah- was already wondering where the boy had gone off to today. What happened?”

Yondu narrowed his eyes, but Kraglin realized his tactical mistake too late. He was not the person to ask how the boy was doing, because he hadn´t shown any interest in the Terran. That was probably also a reason why Yondu didn´t believe him regarding Melanie.

“Our Terran had played with the wrong cables during weapon repair. He kind of took a shot in form of electricity. He´ll be fine soon. Only a few muscles will be sore.”, the medic answered dutifully for Yondu.

Kraglin nodded. _Wow, I just realized that we Terran humans are really weak. We can be killed with only a strong electrical shock. Only one of them and our heart lost its rhythm._ Suddenly, the Xandarian remembered Melanie´s words again. She had said it at one point during her nightly lecture. Both had laughed about it, but right now, it wasn´t that funny anymore.

“You should watch the kid´s heartbeat. Those are easy to confuse among Terrans.”, he advised the medic.

“Oh, alright. I was already wondering why the boy took so long to wake up. I didn´t check on the heart a second time. I guessed it wouldn´t take damage by such a light shock.”, the medical expert replied and went to work. Yondu, beside him, shot Kraglin a cold and calculating look. A short click with the tongue ordered Kraglin to follow who obeyed without hesitation.

 

“You. In there. How´d you know about the boy´s heart function?!”, Yondu asked. They stood opposite of each other in a small messy room, eyeing the other one more or less warily.

Kraglin took a deep breath. Not again. Having to answer all the captain´s questions under this red glare daring you to lie. Once a few months was enough, but here Kraglin was again, going through the procedure a second time this month already. He prayed there would not be a third time. Not only because the captain´s patience would be growing thin by then. So, he gulped and answered.

“The redhaired girl. Melanie. She told me that humans have quite weak physics. They don´t survive what a Xandarian could take with only a few injuries. We think this electrical shock was weak, but what does a human´s body say about it?”, he explained himself as best as he could. Yondu seemed to understand.

“Taken on the boy, huh?”, the Centaurian grinned and Kraglin couldn´t help but return it.

“Nah, still don´t like the brat, but he deserves a chance. Wouldn´t let him die before.”

Yondu seemed outright glad, slapping his first mate on the shoulder and back, laughing. Maybe now was the best time to pull out the hammer. Always honey first, hammer right after.

“You don´t happen to still be jealous that I used my acquaintance to get us some information about the boy, do you?”, he asked carefully and regretted taking the risk immediately as he felt the blue skinned man´s hand dangerously tighten on his shoulder.

“Don´t you dare talking about her anymore!”, was the hissed answer. “You are part of this crew and you belong to me as my first mate. Ain´t no bitch taking you away!”

A warm feeling flooded Kraglin´s body and he nodded eagerly at his captain.

“You are family. I don´t need no other.”, he agreed.

“But don´t you think you had forgotten something last shore leave?”, asked Yondu, the – at least for Kraglin- badly hidden hurt returned to his eyes. Also, the sense of betrayal. Kraglin shook his head, shrugged and shrunk away in fear of punishment that he couldn´t remember something that was obviously very important for the captain. The Centaurian let go of him as well and sighed. “Of course. How´d you remember now when you couldn´t remember back then.” With this, Yondu left an utterly confused Kraglin behind.

The Xandarian couldn´t sleep that night. He had excused himself from a spontaneous party in the mess hall with the lie that he was tired as hell and had to get out of bed early next day, but he wasn´t able to rest. Sometime well past midnight, a knock on his door disturbed his mind racking in a desperate attempt to find what he had been missing on. To his surprise a very drunk captain leaned against his doorframe as he opened it. Well, the aspect that the captain was drunk after attending a Ravager party was not surprising at all, but the nightly visit was so indeed.

“Oh, captain! What are you doing here? You know that your quarters are a few doors down the corridor, don´t ya?”, were the first words stumbling out of his sleep clumsy mouth. Maybe not the best choice of words.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Dontchu lecshure me, Krag. I´m here because I know where I am.”, slurred the captain and staggered into the first mate´s room unasked. He spun around uncoordinatedly. If Kraglin had known Captain Jack Sparrow, he now would have declared his own captain as Sparrows secret twin. He spread his arms with a drunken smile swaying slightly.

“Listen, I´m here, cuz you´re an idjit and cuz I´d never do this if sober. Trust me.” He staggered back to Kraglin who closed the door, but didn´t move away, in case he had to flee.

“What is it then that you´d never do sober, cap, sir?”, he inquired.

“I´m jealous.”

“That´s it, why?” Kraglin didn´t understand, they had been over this already. Yondu had felt betrayed, because Kraglin had spent a night with some girl who was not a prostitute and not a Ravager and was a threat for Kraglin´s loyalty towards the crew and Yondu himself.

“No, that´s not it!”, Yondu suddenly shouted, grabbing Kraglin by the collar of his pajama shirt in a tearing grip. The Centaurian let his head fall down and looked at the Xandarian from below after a few moments.

“That´s not it, that´s not it.”, he whispered, then let go a bit looking aside. “There was a promise. You made a promise to me for that night. To go out with me. I felt so betrayed when you went out with that Terran female instead. Like you didn´t even look back, just left as if I were some dirt on your boot. Like our friendship meant nothing.”

Suddenly his grip on the collar was as hard as steel again, he pushed a totally overwhelmed and shocked Kraglin against the wall and yelled into his face: “Tell me if I´m right! Tell me if I´m telling the truth! Tell me if I´m a little shit to you, if I don´t mean anything to you, our friendship means nothing to you, but never, never do it again by just walking away with some bitch on your side!”

 Kraglin struggled to keep his collapsing captain up right. “Captain, sir! You have to rest! You´re too drunk!”

But the Centaurian didn´t hear him anymore. He was passed out against Kraglin´s thigh, vomit dripping down his jaw onto the fabric tightening around the Xandarian´s torso. That had definitely been too much to drink. But that discussion was not the most important matter on hand. Making a decision, Kraglin hoisted up his captain, dragged him over and hauled him onto his bed. That the captain would be pissed in the morning was for sure. With a wet clothe, Kraglin cleaned Yondu´s chin, then pulled off his boots and his coat alongside with the jacket beneath, the old scarf and the shirt. Only after the captain was properly tugged into the bed sheets, Kraglin took care of his own dirty pajamas, threw them into soapy water to let them absorb the soap in hope that the smell would vanish this way and changed into a new pair. Having done this, he finally grabbed a spare blanked and dropped unto his (in his opinion still fine) ass unceremoniously. This was going to be a long night, but the Xandarian actually didn´t really care his mind was running on highest speed anyway. Now that Yondu had told him why he had been jealous, Kraglin asked himself how he had been able to forget this promise. Lying awake for half of the rest of the night, he decided to somehow make up to Yondu for it.

 

A sudden groan from the bed made Kraglin shoot up and rub his eyes. Surely, there were dark circles below them.

“Arrgh, where the fuck am I? Kraglin, you little piece of shit, where did you drag us?”, slurred Yondu out of a headache and out of fatigue. The first mate struggled onto his own two feet and went for the captain´s aid in no time.

“You spent the night in my bed, sir. This is my room, cap, sir.”, he stuttered. The Centaurian seemed to be fine, excluding being hungover. He helped the other one off his bed and to the small bathroom, against all protest of the blue skinned man. “I´m sorry, sir, but I´ve decided to actually make it up to you and fulfill my broken promise by being a better friend to you!”, Kraglin blabbered through the bathroom door, not sure if the captain even heard him with the water running. Obviously, he had heard.

“Is that so?”, came a grumpy reply and Kraglin nodded eagerly until he remembered that the other couldn´t see him, so he answered with a short “Yessir!”.

“Then bring me goddamn new clothes for me over here and next time, ask me, before you undress me, understood?!”, ordered Yondu.

“Unconscious men don´t give no answer.”, Kraglin grumbled back, but he executed the order without other complain. He hadn´t known, however, that Yondu´s sharp ears had picked up on his last commend.

That was why Kraglin, upon his return, found his captain- who was currently only wearing underpants- leaning in the doorway to the bathroom with a dangerous glimmer in his eyes.

“And that´s a reason to undress me unasked?”, Yondu inquired with an equally dangerous smile playing around his lips. Kraglin spluttered and shoved the pile of fresh clothes into his captain´s face.

“Oh, hell, get dressed, man- I mean, captain, sir!”, Kraglin defended himself, couldn´t refrain from giving Yondu a wink. “But how do people say, anyways? If friends don´t have their gay little moments, they can´t be close as such or must be leaving each other´s side. Don´t you think that´s right, sir?”

Yondu turned with a chuckle. “Coming from a man who says from himself, _he´s as good with women as a toaster is for making ice cream_ , if I´m not mistaken?”, he replied and returned the wink mockingly.

Kraglin spluttered again. “How could you? I- I never said that aloud!! Did you turn into a mind reader recently, or what?”, he desperately tried to cover his embarrassment.

Yondu´s laugh echoed through the small bathroom. “What? No, I´m not that weird. Regarding the toaster, maybe _you_ should watch your tongue in sleep. You talk a lot, you know?”

“And how´d you get to know _that_?”

“Ha! No, I was just not asleep the whole last night, that´s how!”

An embarrassed cough came from Kraglin. “Eehm, whatever. I… well, just wanted to ask if you already have any special plans for next shore leave.”

This commend made Yondu stuck his head through the door. “You trying to get me on a date or what?! No, of course I don´t have special plans. I´ll get drunk and some hot chicks and that´s it.”

Kraglin began shifting from one foot to the other. “Then, care to add something to that list, cap?”, he asked carefully. Yondu shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head.

“You said, you wanted to make it up to me?”

“Yes!”

“Do you wanna go somewhere special?”

“Oh, I´ve already picked an idea, somewhere I´d like to go.”, Kraglin answered, casually lifting a poster that showed the familiar face of a young redhaired woman holding a violin. Yondu snorted.

“Yeah, whatever. It´s not like my ears begin to bleed or some- wait does it say _“Issue: Lovebirds”_?!”

Something akin to a battle cry was to be heard through the whole _Eclector_ followed by a high-pitched shrieking.  When the captain and the first mate appeared on the bridge a few minutes later, Kraglin was still rubbing his behind while Yondu cheerfully talked about the practical usage of a wet towel.

The crew was satisfied; at least the two didn´t ignore each other anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I´m such an idiot. First, I haven´t updated the fanfics you want to read and second, I should have slept instead of writing this story. Do you want another GotG fanfic or not?  
> As usual Kudos are very welcome, comments even more so.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
